Dennis Berger

Experience

1. Dec 2023 — Present

   Design Operations Lead

   Taco Bell

   • Implemented Taco Bell's first enterprise design system, improving design-to-engineering delivery by one sprint, reducing engineering rework by ~30%, and shipping 60+ governed components.
   • Joined as the second design hire after the director and have personally interviewed every FTE and contract designer since. Hire, level, and manage key team members (the internal researcher, content strategist, and design systems lead), with responsibility for performance reviews, coaching, and career growth.
   • Lead Taco Bell's AI-assisted DesignOps pilot (the first such pilot within Yum), applying ChatGPT and Figma MCP to design system governance, content strategy, and operational hygiene; secured executive permission to run a parallel A/B evaluation of Claude outside Yum's standardized vendor footprint.
   • Drove research, backlog priorities, and feature work for Taco Bell's mobile app redesign, spanning moderated and unmoderated studies, near-final validation, and pain-point discovery across the customer journey.
   • Established Jira-based intake, prioritization, and governance mechanisms linking design work to executive OKRs; improved visibility, throughput, and decision-making across the org.
   • Partner with Product, Engineering, Data, Marketing, and CX leadership to shape prioritization, planning, and KPI definition; improved cross-functional alignment and execution.
2. Aug 2021 — Dec 2023

   Senior Program Manager, Digital Experience

   Comcast

   • Built a 6-person UX Center of Excellence from zero, transforming UX from ad hoc support into a strategic enterprise capability.
   • Designed the operating model, governance structure, and engagement tiers; reduced sprint friction by 33%.
   • Coached and developed designers across multiple product teams; aligned delivery practices and team development across senior and junior practitioners.
   • Partnered with product and engineering leadership to embed UX strategy into digital transformation; influenced roadmaps, sequencing, and resourcing decisions.
   • Introduced SUS as the organization's first usability benchmark; lifted touched products from baseline scores in the 40s–50s to 68+ within two to three sprint cycles.
   • Reduced UX drag from one sprint to two-to-three days over six months by reshaping team processes, operating rhythms, and enablement paths.
3. May 2020 — Aug 2021

   Senior Product Designer

   GSK

   • Delivered a redesign that improved usability from a SUS of 34 to 81, reduced load times from 30+ minutes to seconds, and significantly increased analyst adoption and time-to-insight.
   • Diagnosed core platform constraints and successfully advocated for an eight-month rebuild from a failing Power BI implementation to a custom Plotly-based solution.
   • Led UX strategy and design for global analytics platforms supporting medical and compliance functions.
   • Established a recurring research and usability practice to maintain user alignment and rebuild stakeholder trust.
4. Jul 2017 — May 2020

   UI/UX Engineer

   Comcast Effectv

   • Led design and front-end development for the U.S.'s first self-service linear TV advertising platform (Effectv, now Comcast Advertising), built for small and “super-small” businesses.
   • Worked across product design, prototyping, UX writing, usability testing, and implementation in a hybrid design-engineering role.
   • Treated industry jargon as a UX problem; rewrote workflows in plain language for first-time advertisers, improving clarity and confidence throughout the experience.
   • Improved usability from SUS 41 to 72 across five iterative testing rounds; reduced clicks per task by 40%+; cut task completion time by ~50%.
   • Introduced NPS measurement during pilot, lifting satisfaction by 20+ points and guiding iterative improvements.
   • Certified ScrumMaster.
5. Feb 2010 — Jul 2017

   Founder & UX Strategist

   TopClick

   • Founded and led a UX consultancy; owned strategy, delivery, and business operations across multiple client engagements.
   • Designed and shipped digital products end-to-end, building deep fluency in balancing user needs, business goals, technical constraints, and timelines.
   • Introduced experience measurement frameworks (SUS, NPS) to quantify impact and guide investment decisions for clients.
   • Built foundational leadership, client management, and consulting muscles through seven years of hands-on client work.